


Barry, I Know You

by GrilledCheeseEnthusiast



Category: Barry (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Found Family, Murder, Post-Season/Series 02, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:12:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28849617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrilledCheeseEnthusiast/pseuds/GrilledCheeseEnthusiast
Summary: I just finished season two and I am ~stressed~ (I mean I always am, but this time about something specific)So this is my pitch for episode 1 of season three in which everything works out and everyone gets what they deserve. Lots of liberties taken as they dont show every little detail of what happened in the show but hey I'm the writer nowObviously lots of murder talk, but I dont write sex stuff and I consider it a personal challenge to not use cuss words in my writingAlso: Anime? A surprise tool that could help me later? It's more likely than you think
Relationships: Barry Berkman/Sally Reed, Barry Block/Sally Reed, Gene Cousineau/Janice Moss
Kudos: 2





	Barry, I Know You

Gene M. Cousineau stood that entrance of his theatre. This place that was a more a home to him than anywhere else had ever been. He had done his best to make it a home for his students, as well. He wanted them to think of it as a home, because if they thought of it as that too, that meant he had a family. A strange family that wasn't as good at improv as they thought they were, but a family. A good one.   
He thought about all the students who had performed on that stage. Students he still kept in touch with, students who he still taught, students who had died. Students who had just left. Late at night he wouldn't let himself think about how those were the students most like his family. Most like him.   
There was only one student there now. Barry. Gene had texted him to meet him here, digging his phone out of the evidence bag after his son had left. He knew that Barry would. Barry would do anything for him. Gene considered everything he knew about his budding actor. He had been a marine. He worked in auto parts. He had killed people. His favorite soup was plain broth. He was obviously tortured deep inside and full of shame. He loved Sally. He didn't know what to do with his hands when he couldn't put them in his pockets. He was a good actor, but not great yet. He was his friend. Gene was the only person in the world he had confided in. He had noone else.  
Janice had liked him.  
Janice.  
Her memory grounded Mr.Cousineau, brought him back to the present. To the way the few lights that were on illuminated Barry's trembling. To the weight of the gun in his back pocket.   
"Hey, Barry."   
Barry whirled around, and Gene was taken aback by his appearance. lt was nothing short of his performance in Macbeth, maybe more. It was almost enough to make Gene soften.   
"We need to talk."  
"Mr.Cousineau I can ex-"  
"Don't bother,Barry, I've already figured it out."   
Barry seemed to crumple into himself at that. The tears just kept running down his face. Some people knew how to cry quietly, couldn't help but to be silent, but Barry wasn't one of them. When he cried, it was with his whole body. A release of something deep in his soul clawing to get out. He whimpered and sniffled and gasped, and he had a weird habit of covering his face when he felt strong emotion. As if that were enough to hide the emotion that was written on every line of his body. He had noticed almost immediately that Barry felt everything much more deeply than others. It was like he could only handle one emotion at a time. Others would probably never notice that, since the emotion Barry felt most of the time was confusion. He could come off as a bit dim sometimes. But Gene knew he was anything but.  
"Barry I figured out what happened to her."   
Barry sucked in a breath, failing to compose himself. He looked pitiful. It made what Gene was about to do even harder. He took the gun out of his pocket, just looked at it there, sitting in his hand. When he looked back up, Barry's head was bowed deeply, but the shorter man could see that his eyes were shut tight.   
"Can you show me how to use this, Barry?"   
He opened one eye first, and it flew back and forth between the gun and Mr.Cousineau, before the other eye opened slowly as he lifted his head.   
"You....but I...ha-how....what?"  
"Well come on, Barry, are you going to help me or do I have to figure out how to kill Janice's partner myself?"  
Barry reeled back as if he'd been punched.   
"You think Janice's partner killed her?" He said incredulously.   
"Well, obviously he did, Barry, it's the only thing that makes any sense."  
"You really think that?"  
"Yes, Barry, who else? You?"   
"Whaaaaa-Barry spluttered-Why would you think I did?"  
"Oh well that private investigator told me you did."  
Barry tilted his head as if he hadn't heard that very well.   
"He what?"  
"Yeah he told me that you had killed her. "  
Barry went weak in the knees.   
"And..and you didnt believe him?"  
"Well of course not kid I'm not an idiot. Look, I know you've killed people in the past but I've seen first hand how much that's affected you. You're not capable of violence anymore, Barry, I know because I've tried and tried to get you to act violent and you just can't do it. It's nothing to be ashamed of, you'll just have to get roles that compensate for that. No, that was the moment I knew it had to be a set up because the Barry that I've seen who's incapable of selling an abusive boyfriend character for Sally is not a Barry who could kill somebody I love. Janice had talked before about how she was worried her partner was going off the rails since his wife left him. She said she didn't know what he would try to do if he were athletic enough to take him on. He obviously knew that Janice was looking into the mob, as her fellow policeman. He was here in the theater interviewing everyone when Ryan was killed. He must have remembered you from your service record. Now I don't know the exact logistics of what happened, but either he was involved in the mob or he was trying to get in with them, and that's what the pin meant. He knew that he couldn't do anything to his wife or her boyfriend as long as Janice was around because she was smart enough to see that he was behind it. He had the mob kill her. I know he did. Some of the other police must have been getting close so he sent that skeezy guy, who was obviously a con doing a favor for a cop to get out of trouble, to pose as an investigator and try to pin the blame on you!"  
Barry was speechless. He felt like he was in shock. Completely still for a moment, processing everything that had been said, he began to hyperventilate.   
"Barry? Barry what's wro-"  
Barry tackled Mr.Cousineau in a bear hug, sobbing into his shoulder, incoherently thanking his mentor.   
"I was...I was so scared for a moment that you thought I could do that, Mr.Cousineau. I was so scared...ya know, because....because of my past and my audition monologue and what I've done but I'm not that guy anymore-"   
"Your audition? Barry...I'd forgotten about your audition."   
He held the younger man at arms length, hands resting on his shoulders. He saw him stop breathing. The trembling returned.   
"Barry, you really think I didn't know what was going on there?"   
Barry gulped around a lump in his throat.   
"I mean... of course...of course I figured out it wasn't improv like you said it was but that doesnt make you a killer."  
"It wasnt an improv?"   
Barry's single emotion had turned back to confusion, But Mr.Cousineau missed that.   
"No, Barry, I know it wasnt an improv. You think I'm not hip? Well I work with a lot of actors younger than you so I'm hip with the times! It took me a while but I figured out it was from that anime that all the kids are watching these days. You can rest easy now, Barry, I forgive you."  
A weight felt like it had been lifted from both of their shoulders. They started laughing, together, for the first time in a very long time. They didn't know why, other than they just didnt want to cry. So they laughed. And hugged. And everything was okay for just a moment. Eventually , their laughter died down, and they were just two dudes, locked in an embrace in the theater. A tale as old as time.   
"But seriously Barry can you teach me how to shoot a gun so I can kill the guy who murdered Janice."


End file.
